LGBT rights, equal treatment and
fight against discrimination
Regional workshop
organised by the People 2 People programme of the European
Commission in collaboration with the Office for Human and
Minority rights of Serbia and ILGA Europe
Belgrade,
17 – 19 June 2013
Meeting venues:
Palace of Serbia, Novi Beograd
Working languages:
English, Serb, Turkish, Albanian
For more information on the People 2 People Programme, please go to:
http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/taiex/pdf/p2p/p2p-leaflet_en.pdf
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AIM OF THE EVENT:
The P2P Programme intends to offer to civil society organisations from the Enlargement region the
possibility to interact and network with their national, regional and European-level counterparts as well as to
familiarise themselves with EU structures, policy making process, programmes, policies and best practices.
The aim of this Regional workshop is to give participants the opportunity to be introduced to the EU policies
and programmes related to equal treatment, fight against discrimination and LGBT Rights, as well as to offer
them exchange and networking opportunities among themselves and with other European-level civil society
organisations active in this field.
The workshop will be an occasion for a assessing and discussing the "state of the art" in the different
countries, both at legislative and enforcement level. The sharing of best practice and the dialogue among
different stakeholders in Western Balkans, Turkey and Iceland will be encouraged throughout the workshop.
During the workshop the following themes will be tackled:
1) Discrimination
The EU promotes the values of non-discrimination and equality in relation to all protected groups. Most
candidate and potential candidate countries have adopted - in recent years - comprehensive antidiscrimination laws as part of their path toward EU integration. However, in practice, protection from
discrimination against LGBT people in most countries is weak or non-existent. LGBT people in all WB
countries are subjected to discrimination and harassment in all areas of their life. However positive
developments in this regard happened this year in some Western Balkans (WB) countries.
2) Hate crimes and hate speech
LGBT people in the Western Balkans and Turkey often become victims of hate crimes. Hate-motivated
incidents against LGBT people are indeed a common occurrence in most Western Balkan countries and in
Turkey, particularly where LGBT people become more visible. In most countries there is no official data on
homophobic hate crimes and the police is not adequately trained to deal with this crimes. Most incidents of
homophobic and transphobic violence remain unreported because of the lack of trust in law enforcement
institutions.
3) Freedom of assembly, association and expression
Freedom of assembly is not always respected in the region. In some WB countries LGBT people are too
scared to organize large scale public gathering because of the high level of homophobia and legitimate fear
of violence. In some other countries, where Pride marches are organized they end in violence. The bans
imposed on peaceful public gatherings are clear failures of the Public authorities to ensure the protection of
LGBT people and safeguard their constitutional rights to public assembly. The role of government official,
opinion makers and law enforcement authorities in this regards will be discussed and best practices will be
shared among CSOs and Officials of different Countries.
The workshop is open for the participation of several representatives (up to five per beneficiary) from each
of the candidate countries and potential candidates to EU accession. Participants will represent mainly CSOs
active in LGBT rights, human rights and women`s rights. Some representatives of National Equality bodies,
Ministries for human rights or MPs chairing Commissions on Equality will be also invited.
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Day 1: 17 June 2013
Chair: EU Delegation (tbc)
14:00
Arrival and registration of participants.
14:30
Welcome address
Mr Stefano Sannino, Director General - DG Enlargement, European
Commission
Representative of the OHMR (tbc)
Representative of the EUD (tbc)
…
15:15
The European Union and the fundamental rights of LGBT citizens
MEP - European Parliament`s Intergroup on LGBT rights (tbc)
DG JUST (tbc)
16:00
Coffee break
16:30
Ensuring equality for LGBT people: key issues and main challenges in
the Western Balkans and Turkey
ILGA Europe
Government representative/s (tbc)
Representative of a LGBT/Human right organization
17:30
Questions and answers
18:00
End of the first day
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Day 2: 18 June 2013
9:00
Arrival and registration of participants.
9:30
Working groups in parallel
For each wg a panel of speakers can be foreseen with a good mix of civil
society, gov. representative, international org, intergovernmental
organizations and independent experts and organisations
The antidiscrimination law in the WB and Turkey – state of the
art and way forward
WG1 –
Panel speakers: DG ELARG (tbc)...
Participants: LGBT/ Human Rights organizations, National Equality body or
Ministries/ Departments for human rights
WG2 – Hate crimes and hate speech
Introductory speech: Article 19 (tbc), Social platform (tbc), ILGA EUROPE,
…
Participants: LGBT/ Human Rights organizations, Government officials
(Ministry of interior, ministry of justice) and/or Law enforcement authorities
(Police, prosecutors, judges)
WG 3 – Freedom of assembly, association and expression
Introductory speech: Council of Europe (tbc), OSCE (tbc)…
Participants: LGBT/ Human Rights organizations, Government officials /
Law enforcement authorities / City majors
11:00
Coffee break
11:30
Continuation
13:00
Lunch break
14:30
Plenary session
Data collection and monitoring
European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), ODHIR (ODCE) and CEJI…
15:00
Discussion
15:30
Coffee break
16:00
Monitoring mechanisms and legislative and non-legislative measures
CoE, EQINET, European Group NHRIs, Ombudsperson from Albania (all
tbc)
16:30
Discussion
17:30
End of the second day
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Day 3: 19 June 2013
Chair: OHMR (tbc)
9:00
Arrival and registration of participants.
9:30
Report from the working groups and discussion
3 Rapporteurs from the WGs
10:15
Discussion
11:00
Coffee break
11:30
Government’s leadership role in regional and multilateral fora
Albanian government representative, …
12:30
Evaluation of the workshop and final address
DG Enlargement, European Commission
EU Delegation in Belgrade (tbc)
13:00
End of the workshop
This meeting is being organised by
the People 2 People Programme (P2P), Civil Society Facility, DG Enlargement,
in the organisational framework of the
Technical Assistance Information Exchange Instrument - TAIEX
of the European Commission
CHAR 5/21, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium
phone +32 2 2993066
Web sites: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/tenders/support-for-civil-society/civil-societyfacility/index_en.htm
Leaflet http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/taiex/pdf/p2p/p2p-leaflet_en.pdf
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